The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and in particular, to a manufacturing method of an array substrate of a LCD device.
A LCD device comprises an array substrate and a color filter substrate that are disposed opposite to each other. The manufacturing process for an array substrate repeats the processes of thin film deposition, lithography using a mask, etching, photoresist removal, and the like for several times. In lithography, a masking process with a mask plate is necessary, and therefore sometimes the number of lithography processes is referred to as the number of masking processes. The price of consumable materials such as photoresist used in the manufacturing process is high, and also increase of the number of lithography processes leads to addition of the needed equipments. Therefore, an effective method for decreasing product cost and increasing investment return is to reduce the number of manufacturing steps.
The conventional manufacturing technology for an array substrate of a LCD device has progressed from a seven-mask process to a four-mask process. In the currently widely used manufacturing processes for an array substrate, five lithography processes are needed, i.e., five mask plates are needed, which leads to long produce period and may adversely affect yield of product lines.